What is neoliberalism anyway? And who allowed it to devour the world?
Neoliberalism — an ideology committed to maximizing private profit by cutting taxes, busting trade unions, gutting government regulations, and privatizing public services — is the reigning ideology of our time. Yet despite capturing both major parties and shaping and controlling virtually every aspect of our lives, it’s a term that’s rarely mentioned in mainstream media and politics, let alone explained or scrutinized.
Our new release The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (And How it Came to Control Your Life), featuring award-winning author and environmental activist George Monbiot, sets out to change that. Directed by acclaimed filmmakers Peter Hutchison and Lucas Sabean, The Invisible Doctrine combines Monbiot’s well-known clarity and conviction with striking visuals and infographics to provide a masterclass in what neoliberalism is, where it came from, who it benefits, and why it matters.
We’re thrilled to announce that The Invisible Doctrine is now available to purchase on our platform.
In the film, Monbiot traces neoliberalism’s rise to dominance from an obscure pro-capitalist philosophy in the 1930s to a full-blown political project bent on rolling back hard-won checks on corporate power in the 1970s to its ultimate embrace at the highest levels of government in the 1980s and up to today. Placing special emphasis on the stories that have been disseminated through business-funded think tanks, dark-money conduits, and corporate media outlets to sell largely unpopular neoliberal policies, Monbiot explodes the core neoliberal claim that unregulated corporate capitalism is synonymous with freedom and democracy. Far from enhancing freedom and democracy, he argues, neoliberalism’s commitment to corporate capitalism has waged systematic war on both — subordinating freedom to unaccountable concentrations of private power, and undermining democracy by dismantling reforms designed to level the playing field for ordinary Americans.
In a direct rebuttal to neoliberalism’s veneration of the market, Monbiot ends by calling for a truly participatory democratic political system — one that appeals to us as active citizens rather than consumers and places a premium on the shared heritage of our social, political, and environmental commons. Only when we have a system that values and respects what we hold in common, Monbiot argues, will we stand a chance of liberating ourselves from the vicious spiral of isolation, alienation, and environmental destruction that neoliberalism simultaneously breeds and feeds on.
The Invisible Doctrine is a vital resource for courses that explore dominant ideologies, political economy, corporate power, globalization, labor history, economic inequality, consumerism, environmental issues, the climate crisis, public relations and propaganda, social alienation, and the rise of oligarchy, authoritarianism, and fascism.
The Invisible Doctrine will be screening at the Sedona International Film Festival next week on February 24th and February 26th.
A companion book of the same title by Monbiot and Hutchison shot to Number 1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list when it was released by Penguin Random House in May, and was also selected as a Waterstones “Best Political Books of 2024.”
Click here to get The Invisible Doctrine on our streaming platform now.
ABOUT GEORGE MONBIOT
George Monbiot is an author, environmental campaigner, Guardian columnist, and recipient of the 2022 Orwell Prize for journalism. His bestselling books include Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea, and Human Life; Heat: How We Can Stop the Planet Burning; Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet; and, most recently, Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism, co-authored with Peter Hutchison. Monbiot also cowrote the concept album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness with musician Ewan McLennan, and has made a number of viral videos. One of them, adapted from his 2013 TED talk, How Wolves Change Rivers, has been viewed on YouTube over 40 million times. Another, on Natural Climate Solutions, which he co-presented with Greta Thunberg, has been watched over 60 million times.
